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Thursday, August 14, 2014

REMEMBER: THE CONVENT OF THE SACRED HEART

An archival photo shows a Convent of the Sacred Heart building which stood on the south end of what is now the City College campus for most of the 20th century. City College had purchased the building by West 130th Street and Convent Avenue back in the 1950s but would demolish the site that had been part of West Harlem since 1841 within the following two decades. Today not much of the old south campus exists but a small house that used to be reserved for the president of the college stands close by at the entrance of secured by cast iron gates.

5 comments:

Fun fact: the basement of the building (Finley Student Center when CCNY used it) still partially exists below a hill, or at least it did before construction of the new science buildings got into full swing. When I went to school there I'd stick my camera down little holes in the hill and come back with pictures of tiled walls (albeit next to collapsed beams and debris).

Chester Himes' Harlem novels are based on a purely imaginary, fictional Harlem -- you might even say that is part of the charm of his titles. He didn't know the actual neighborhood at all. It is possible, however, that his narrative relied upon word of mouth about certain aspects of the community, for instance the convent in question.

To correct this original post, the convent did not occupy this site until 1847 (coincidentally the same year The City College was founded at 23rd. St. and Lexington Avenue). The convent's first Main Building was destroyed by fire in 1888 and was rebuilt by 1890 from the same foundations.

The City College of New York purchased the former Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart campus in 1952. CCNY used the campus for many years but unfortunately many of the buildings, including Finley Hall (formerly the Convent's Main Building) were demolished in 1985.